Hutt River (Wellington Harbor)

Hutt River
Looking downstream on the Hutt River
Data
location	South of the North Island of New Zealand
source	south of the Tararua Range
muzzle	at Petone in Wellington Harbor coordinates: 41 ° 14 ′ 24 ″  S , 174 ° 54 ′ 0 ″  E 41 ° 14 ′ 24 ″  S , 174 ° 54 ′ 0 ″  E
length	56 km
Catchment area	647.5 km²
Left tributaries	Mangaroa River
Right tributaries	Akatarawa River
Big cities	Lower Hutt
Medium-sized cities	Upper Hutt

The Hutt River is a river in the south of the North Island of New Zealand . It flows from the southern Tararua Range for 56 km to the southwest and here forms fertile flood plains that include Kaitoke and the Hutt Valley .

The upper reaches of the Kaitoke Regional Park are covered to protect the quality of the drinking water produced at Kaitoke for the Greater Wellington area. Below Kaitoke is the Kaitoke Gorge , this gorge is popular for rafting .

Below the gorge is Te Marua . There the Mangaroa River flows into the Hutt River from the east. Further downstream, just before the flood plain of Upper Hutt, the Akatarawa River flows into the river from the west.

The Upper Hutt flood plain is home to most of the Upper Hutt town . Here the river begins to follow an almost straight-line fault . At the lower end of the flood plain is the Taita Gorge . This gorge separates the Upper Hutt and the Lower Hutt. This gorge is much shorter and less narrow than Kaitoke Gorge.

The river flows into Wellington Harbor at Petone . The geological fault zone that the river followed continues into a steep cliff on the edge of Wellington Harbor.

The Hutt River is flat over a large part of its course and in parts it is an interwoven river in a wide rock bed. In Kaitoke Gorge, the water flows directly over the bedrock. Near the mouth, the river is narrower and has steeper banks. As usual in New Zealand, the larger populated areas around Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt are protected against flooding by dikes and the planting of introduced willow trees.

The regular flooding of Lower Hutt resulted in fertile soil. Before the Labor government began building social housing in 1937, Lower Hutt was a horticultural area.

State Highway 2 follows the river for much of its course, except for Kaitoke Gorge and the upper reaches. Then it crosses the Remutaka Range and continues to Wairarapa .

The river was named by Colonel W. Wakefield after Sir William Hutt , chairman of the New Zealand Company .